Figure 8.

A subset of newly generated podocytes from PEC origin (tdTomato⁺EGFP⁺) de novo express VEGF-A in the glomerular tuft of aged mice. (A–D) Representative confocal images of tdTomato⁺ (red), EGFP⁺ (green) and VEGF-A (blue, podocyte specific marker) in young and aged mice. The inserts show separate channels of the outlined glomeruli, with superscripts: 1=tdTomato, 2=EGFP, 3=VEGF-A and 4=merged. (A) Young mice (OC) showed that tdTomato⁺PECs were observed along Bowman’s capsule (A¹). EGFP reporter (A²) overlaps with VEGF-A staining (A³) and creates a cyan color (A⁴). (B) Aged mice (OC) showed that a subset of differentiated tdTomato⁺ PECs (red) (B¹) co-expresses EGFP⁺ (green) (B²) and VEGF-A (blue) (B³) creating a yellow/white color in the glomerular tuft (white arrows) (B⁴). (C) Young mice (JMC) showed that tdTomato⁺ staining PECs were observed along Bowman’s capsule (C¹) EGFP staining (C²) was detected in a typical podocyte distribution and overlaps with VEGF-A staining (C³), creating a cyan color (C⁴). (D) Aged mice (JMC) showed that tdTomato⁺ staining PECs (D¹) (marked with white arrows) have migrated onto the glomerular tuft and differentiated to a podocyte fate, co-staining with EGFP (green) (D²) and VEGF-A (blue) (D³) creating pink/yellow color (D⁴). Scale bars represent 25μm or 5μm (insets).